NJ SCBWI Conference

by Marcy Collier

Kitty, Andrea and I attended the New Jersey SCBWI conference this weekend. Kitty taught a workshop on Fairytales, Legends & Tall Tales (which, BTW was awesome!) We branched out into different workshops, then were able to share and compare notes on the long journey home to Pittsburgh.

The Saturday keynote speaker, Dan Yaccarino was amazing. He said, “Challenge yourself. Don’t stand still. Your passion must come through in your work or kids will see through it.” He said he spent the first two years after art school dropping off portfolios to magazine publishers in search of work. The theme of his speech was to say – “YES!” He was presented with opportunities and new situations and said yes each and every time. As writers and illustrators we have to work hard and persevere and say yes to new situations and overcome our fears.

If you find yourself in a challenging situation, don’t back down and run. Have confidence in yourself to say, “yes I can do this.” You have to believe in yourself before others will have confidence in your work.

But as the agents stated in their panel, they expect an author or an illustrator to submit polished work. They have to fall in love with your manuscript or illustrations to make an offer. Do your research. Know your market. Don’t submit to an agent blindly. They can fix plot or pacing problems in a novel but they can’t teach you voice. Hone your craft. On a personal, observatory note, don’t be a pain in the butt. Don’t corner an agent/editor during the cocktail hour and demand an explanation on why they’ve rejected your manuscript six times. Don’t stuff an envelope in their hand and ask them to critique your manuscript. I almost feel like agents/editors should have an emergency air horn they can sound if they are stuck in that awkward situation and then a volunteer will come to their rescue.   

As far as market trends, paranormal, vampire, angels, dystopian, and super powers are all dead. Do not start your story with dreams or car crashes where the main character wakes up and something terrible has happened. Make the stakes high. Create believable characters with realistic problems. Contemporary realism is becoming popular.

We got on the road at lunchtime so we missed both Kate DiCamillo’s closing remarks and the farewell to Kathy Temean as regional advisor. The bits I read on Twitter about Kate’s speech (#NJSCBWI) were both inspirational and heartwarming. And even though we don’t live in the New Jersey region, we are grateful for all of Kathy's hard work, dedication and making us feel so at home and welcome in her region. We will truly miss her as the NJ regional advisor!

 

But I had to get home in time to read bedtime stories, which of course included Ame Dyckman and Dan Yaccarion’s Boy + Bot.

http://www.danyaccarino.com/ys/

http://amedyckman.com/home.html

http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/

Marcy & Kitty's Excellent Adventure - Part 2

by Marcy Collier & Kitty Griffin

If you’ve ever been to New York City, you’ve learned NEVER to cross the walk if the red hand of death is flashing. A tour bus came inches from hitting Miss Kitty, but I pulled her to safety.

We visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral and thanked St. Christopher for our safe travels. We were greeted by the Naked Cowboy in Times Square.

Then we met Kitty’s author friend, Mingmei Yip for lunch in China Town. She shared her new book, Song of the Silk Road with us. She’ll be doing another book about Chinese folk tales and told us about her fascinating plot for a work in progress.

After lunch we headed uptown to Simon and Schuster and met with Vice President and Publisher Justin Chanda. We talked about the conference and market trends. Justin confirmed that there is editorial interest in middle grade fiction, an upturn in picture books but was slightly skeptical about Sci-Fi being the next big thing in YA, unless it’s light Sci-Fi. He believes that both commercial and literary fiction have a place and that authors shouldn’t necessarily think one is better than the other. He is excited about the release of many new S&S books, including Kenneth Oppee’s, This Dark Endeavor.

Marcy, Emma & Kitty

We had a lovely dinner with Emma Dryden. She is doing well with her consulting business (http://www.drydenbks.com/). We talked technology with Emma. She stated that the money is not there yet for apps and not all publishers are embracing this new technology. She also stressed the importance of going to go to conferences. Emma agreed that honing your craft and learning to take criticism will make you a better writer.

We are headed home tomorrow. Kitty’s dogs are fine. My older son broke his finger in a school kickball game, but other than that, all is well. And I will make sure we only cross streets when the man appears.

Hot Hot Hot

Marcy & Kitty's Most Excellent Adventure - part I

SCBWI New Jersey

by Marcy Collier & Kitty Griffin

           

This month at Route 19 Writers, we are blogging about hot topics in our industry. The timing couldn't have been better.

Back in February, Cynthia in our Route 19 Writers group emailed all of us about the New Jersey SCBWI conference. After seeing the awesome lineup of agents and editors, Kitty and I decided to attend. Kitty is a world traveler and networking guru, I on the other hand am not. I haven’t left home for more than two consecutive nights since before my kids were born and would never approach an editor or agent unless I had a scheduled critique with them.

After assuring my children that Daddy wouldn’t forget to feed them or read bedtime stories, we drove to Princeton, New Jersey.

Ame Dyckman

We were greeted by volunteer coordinator, fushia-haired Ame Dyckman, who was so energetic and spirited, we felt both welcome and at ease. BTW, Fushia is my absolute favorite color. Ame helps Kathy Temean and Laurie Wallmark coordinate 162 volunteers to make their conference happen each year. Wow!





Alvina Ling





Kitty and I listened to Newberry honor recipient author/illustrator Grace Linn give the keynote. Grace explained her inspirational career path. She said, “You should become an artist because you have something you want to share with the world, not because you want compliments. No one can tell your stories except you.” I was lucky enough to sit with Grace’s editor, Alvina Ling, (Sr. Editor of Little Brown & Co) during lunch on Saturday and with  Dial, Dutton, & Celebra Associate Publisher/ Executive Managing Editor, Steve Meltzer on Sunday for lunch.



Steve Meltzer & Kitty Griffin


We each sat in on educational sessions and listened to lively discussions. I attended an awesome peer review with these terrific writers.

Front: Nicole & Marcy
Back: Gayle, Suzi, Christine & Suzi

This morning David Caruba gave a fascinating power point presentation on the state of market survey. David polls 30 industry professionals and compiles their answers. We thought it was important to share some of his findings:

Young Adult

Young adult novels are staying strong. Editors want character-driven manuscripts that have franchising potential. Consumers are hungry for series, not one-offs. As a new author, your debut novel has to come off strong or your career may die after that first book. The market is saturated with fantasy, dystopia, vampire, and paranormal stories. Science fiction is the next big thing. Any YA that crosses into adult is hot.

Middle Grade

Since the popularity of Rick Riordan’s books, editors are actively seeking the next big middle-grade novel, but it must capture a distinctive MG voice. Those types of books have great success as school library and backlist books. MG is shifting to younger characters. Many editors have also requested to see manuscripts with a humorous slant with series potential.

Picture Books

No. Picture books are not dead. Many editors have said that they would like to see a well-done picture book come across their desk. There is a slight upturn since last year. Word count is now 300-500 words.

E-books

With the emergence of the popularity of E-readers, E-books were a hot topic. David doesn’t believe that the overnight success of Amanda Hawking will be repeated. Although the royalties are far better for self-published E-books (60-80%) compared to traditional hardcover (17.5%), those books are not getting the marketing, legal contracting or editing that the traditional presses give. Although E-books have been known to create opportunities for authors, David believes that these self-published E-books will only sustain for short periods of time. Hard cover royalties are better for authors than E-books.

General News

Publishing houses will turn more into media houses. We will see a shift from traditional publication to mixed media (apps, etc.). The market is becoming much more agent-driven. Quiet is now the killer word. If a manuscript is quiet (too literary), it’s dead. We are dealing with sanitized houses where editors are reluctant to take something unique that doesn’t fit in to a specific genre. 

Part-one of our adventure is over. We took the train into New York City this afternoon to begin part-two of our adventure. Both mine and Kitty’s families are making the best of it without us at home. My kids have eaten and have read bedtime stories (at least for tonight). Kitty’s dogs are taking her spot in bed.

As I finish this post, Kitty is fast asleep. But we're in New York - the city that never sleeps. I'll leave you with the song in my head that prompted the blog title.

Stay tuned for part two of Marcy & Kitty's Most Excellent Adventure.